Planning a wedding can be an incredibly stressful experience. According to a 2019 study, people planning a wedding pour an average of 528 hours into preparations for the ceremony—and when something goes awry, that number only increases.
Over the years, many internet users have shared their wedding horror stories, ranging from people showing up to the ceremony wearing white to having the wedding photographer no-show.
Now, another user has the internet talking. She claims Marriott canceled her entire reservation just two days before her wedding. As a result, around 300 people were left with nowhere to stay.
Why did Marriott cancel this woman’s wedding reservation?
In a video with over 27.1 million views, TikTok user Emily Campeas (@emilycampeas) shows her father in a chair, apparently writing an email on his phone.
“POV: marriott canceled the room block 2 days before my 300 person destination wedding so now my dad (a lifetime titanium elite marriott customer) is emailing the CEO,” she writes in the text overlaying the video.
In another video from wedding planner Lauren Grech (@llgevents), further details are offered about what happened.
According to Grech, two days before the wedding, she received a phone call that Marriott’s “system-wide failure and their internal booking system oversold all of the rooms at their hotel.” As a result, several room blocks were affected, including Campeas’, which Grech claims was randomly selected.
How did Marriott solve the situation?
Grech continues by noting that Campeas’ father, who is a Lifetime Titanium Elite Marriott member, emailed the company’s CEO after receiving information about the cancellation. For context, “Lifetime Titanium Elite status” was a designation given to Marriott members in 2018 who had stayed 750 elite nights and held onto 10 years of Platinum status, per NerdWallet.
Within 24 hours, all guests were rebooked, and the wedding party adapted to the change.
“All of our guests were redirected to another hotel, and they migrated the entire block, “ explains Grech. “They credited every single person the difference for the room…All of our guests are in one hotel. We redirected all the transportation, migrated the reservations, their hotel welcome bags, their key cards, all of it.”
Campeas herself posted a follow-up video showing her father thanking viewers for applying pressure to Marriott.
“Thanks to the power of social media, the Marriott came through both nationally and locally and we got our wedding party situated at a different hotel with their help,” he says. “We could not have done it without everybody from TikTok, so thank you all so much.”
@emilycampeas You good???? @Marriott Bonvoy @Marriott Hotels ♬ original sound – Meme page
Viewers are upset at Marriott
In the comments section of all three videos, users recounted their own experiences with Marriott, with some saying that sudden cancellations like these were atypical.
“As a Marriott employee, whoever authorized this cancellation is gonna be in bigggg trouble,” wrote a user.
“I mean, it’s still infuriating that they couldn’t accommodate you at the original hotel but at least you have rooms! Unreal,” added another.
“If this had been my wedding I would have sued Marriott into oblivion. My husband is also a lifetime Titanium member, this is totally unacceptable. This sends shivers down my spine,” stated a third.
Update 7:24am CT, March 6: In an email to the Daily Dot, Grech said that “In my 10 year career I have never seen this issue before.”
As for how to resolve it if such a situation arises, she says that “The best solution is to be proactive and start reaching out to other hotels immediately.
“Our team posted on social media that we were having this issue and within 1 hour we had 10 different hotel contacts that were willing to pick up rooms for our block. My goal was to keep the block together (which was obviously really difficult given the timeframe),” she wrote. “My next goal was to just make sure all the guest’s had rooms and a place to stay.”
Regarding the role social media played, Grech said that the bride and her father were the “ultimate power duo.”
“I think their situation being so relatable added to the virality of the video. I think the Marriott saw it gaining traction and knew they had to come up with a better solution and quickly,” she explained. “The following morning we got the call that they were moving the block to the Eau Palm Beach and providing everyone with uber credits to get to the wedding and $500 per night vouchers for the room difference.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Marriott via email and to Campeas via TikTok direct message and comment.
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